Death Mark
By Teriq Herring
The beginning: 12 weeks remaining…
Today was like any other day for me I woke up, took a shower brush my teeth and got ready for high school I was nearing June and summer recess was just around the corner this would be my last days in school since I'm a 12th grader an all I was thinking about all the things I could be now that I'm grown and soon to be out of my parents' house and move in with my friend across East city. As I put on my uniform for school and packed my backpack I heard my mom call me from downstairs for breakfast I fixed my hair quickly to make it look decent instead of looking messy. She was never with me for the most part of my life but my parents separated for a while and they just got back together just to act like they care about each other or me for that matter. I walked down stairs and as I touched the last step to the floor I heard the door slam shut. It was probably my mom who had just left both my parents never had time for me they were always working in their office jobs. They never could even stop a moment in their lives to have a decent conversation with me other than what do you want how much it's going to cost and bring back my debit card ASAP okay. They gave all the toys I wanted but it seemed meaningless to me. I walked in the kitchen and look on the table there was just a white plate with and yellow note attached to it I looked at the note there was a picture with eggs, bacon and pancakes she scribbled on it and below it, it had an arrow that said other side I flipped it to the other side to see two twenties taped to the other side. I ripped it off the paper and looked at the stove. The food was burnt to a crisp I couldn't even tell the sausage from the bacon because they were so burnt. I rummaged through the cabinets to see if there was any cereal left I looked under the cabinet to see the box of honey squares I looked in the box it was empty. I looked at the time it was 7:15am I yelled "crap!" through the house I knew that there was no deli stores around my school except for the fish place that makes very terrible fillet sandwiches I knew i couldn't be late for school they would kick me out of school because of the many tardes and absents I've had. I rushed out of my house and ran to the train station the train was going to leave in 5 minutes and the next one doesn't come until another half an hour I ran through the streets and headed towards the main roads. I made a sharp turn on the corner and ran into an old lady she fell on the floor and in pain I hit the floor knees first and as I fell on the floor I checked the time 7:17am it was I looked at my knees one was slightly bruised but the other one was busted I was bleeding the old lady was silent all she was trying to do was get up I jumped on my feet and pulled her up as well my knee hurt a lot. I looked around us and saw eggs, flour and vegetables splattered all over the floor. I ran back on track towards the train station I yelled back to her that "I'm sorry I've got and important place to be right now". I dashed towards the train station it was just four blocks away. I ran through the intersection and heard the cars blow there horn's at me, curse and yell. I yelled back some words back at them and I ran towards the train station. I was two blocks away now I looked at the time it was 7:18am I looked at the pharmacy store that I was about to pass bye. I looked at my bruise on my leg it started to leak blood slightly i shivered in disgust. I ran in the old man named George ran the store he was restocking products behind the counter. I hit the bellhop bell to alert him that someone was here he turn around and said "good morning Nana" "hi can you help me out with this" I lifted my leg and showed him the wound he went in the back and got some supplies him and my father are close friends. They hang out every other time my dad goes on vacation he motioned me to sit on the stool right alongside of him and put up my leg so he can bandage it. "So what happened to you today Nana?" he said "I fell I wasn't thinking" I said "well you know I remember when you were eight years old and you use to come in here every day with a bruise you, you were quite an adventures person you know that" I nodded my head and put my foot down he poured a little alcohol on a small cloth and rubbed the alcohol around the blood stain around the bandages. As I left the store I ran towards the train station and checked the time it was 7:20am I ran a little faster and the doors were just about to start closing I heard them through the speakers. I jogged up the stairs and looked at the trains and I saw my train "E13 in left wing now is departing soon" it read on the board. I ran up another flight of stairs. And saw the train from across the other side I ran through the place I saw the train doors slowly closing and before they were about to close I threw my bag in the middle so the doors would stay opened longer I jumped and breathed out a sigh of relief. A man with many luggage started to wobble on over from the far side of the room. He said "hold the doors please!" I looked at him as the doors closed he was half way across the room as the train took off he threw all his luggage down and screamed curses madly as he pointed at what appeared to be me. I didn't say anything I just breathed in and out the train was going fast as usually I looked for a chair facing the window to see the view I always loved to look out of the window of the train you could see almost everything well the most important things for that matter at least. I see the beach that's on the coast line of East city Yellow beach I thought in my mind I never knew why it was called that name. Then I saw the huge suspension bridge that connected us with outside world East city is just too big of a town I would miss it so much and everything I want is right here. My phone started to vibrate in my backpack I took it out and saw my friend Rose had sent me a message it read "feel free to come stay at my house I'm never there most of the time need a house sitter anyways" I texted back to her "already packed my stuff in boxes going to come over tonight to unpack be there soon" I smiled as I closed my phone and put it in my pocket I stared at the view once more I saw the food area and remembered all the good times I had with my friends Rose use to pick me up from my house and we go driving around East city but we mostly stayed in the food district it had movies and restaurants and not to mention an amusement park a couple of miles away. I heard the train play its upbeat chime that meant the bus was close to the school. I checked the time and saw it was 7:35 school starts in 25 minutes and I have to take a bus there as well that'll be another 20 minutes shaved off the trip already the bus stop was two blocks away from the train station I scurried towards the bus stop there was one more intersection left to cross I had my mp3 player with headphones in my ear blasting music I then bumped into another person again I took off my head phones to see who it was then my heart skipped a beat it was the same old lady from last time she was lying on her back in the street a bunch of people who were also waiting on the corner just stood there to see what was going to happen next then I reached out and put my hand out to help her up she said something in a another language that I did not know of. Then a truck out of nowhere hit the old lady and my hand the truck hit a building and finally stopped. I shrieked at the sight and back up till I was against the wall I had my hands over my face in disbelief the crowd looked and talked like a flock of birds they looked some turned their faces away from the gruesome sight. I looked once more to see a trail of blood then what look like a chunk of flesh. I saw my bus stop on the other side of the road I quickly ran towards and got on I trembled at the sight of all that blood. I shivered and then I closed my eyes. As the bus neared my school Rose texted me again and wrote "come swing by my house at 10 okay?" I texted "got it when I get there I need to tell you something" the bus neared my school and I hoped off to go to the fish place I went and saw dead fish everywhere the guy asked "what can I do you for little lady?" "I want a fish fillet" "got it I'll make it on the double" I sat down in the chair and waited to till my food was prepared it was 7:50am I looked around the store it looked like a shack more than a deli and for that matter what kind of deli sells only primarily fish products. It smelled like dead fish in the air and there were flies all around the chandelier. He said "hey lady your sandwich is done" I took the brown bag and gave him a smile and left the store as I made my way towards the entrance of the school I saw my friend Shelby waiting for me. We were only friends for a couple of months now but she was not nearly as close as my friendship with Rose. I walked right alongside her as we walked into class. Together the bell had just rung I breathed out another sigh of relief I made it. Then one of the guidance counselors called the teacher out of the room. After much whispering the outside the classroom the teacher asked for me to come out I gulped and walked outside then the guidance counselor told me to go to the HR room for further instruction. As I walked to the HR room I wonder in my mind what they planned for me. As I sat down in the room a man was sitting behind the desk already he made me signed some papers I did without thinking. Then the guy said "I'm sorry to inform you but you've been expelled from school" "wait what but I came to class on time and everything" I cried "well I'm sorry but you agreed that if you missed another class that was it" "but I didn't miss any classes" "you know that you had a class at 6:35 and a finals a well" I was shocked that everything was happening to me so fast the guidance counselor came and asked "do you need to be escorted out of the school" I nodded no as I picked up my bag and slowly left with my head down I couldn't think anymore it was like my mind was going insane what will I do without a high school diploma what will I do for the rest of my life. I couldn't think I texted to Rose "can you pick me up ASAP at my house?" as I walked outside the school it was raining I didn't care at least nobody could tell if I was crying or not. I was in the parking lot when I saw the school's janitors refilling the oil tank pipe that was sticking outside of the school it was on empty the janitors had just opened it up. but they were on a cigarette break I walked by think nothing of until I saw a cigarette butt still lit I just threw in the oil tank pipe and walked away without thinking. as the rain started to pour down harder the guys started to fill the pipe with oil I was already a block away but I could still see them and the parking lot where I was standing then an explosion happened all cars in the parking lot exploded as well I didn't care I couldn't think anyways. Then the school caught on fire and a huge chunk of the school was missing I walked away didn't even frown nor laugh either. I was on the train and went back home I stared at the view again thinking of nothing of it. My mind felt like a broken mirror that had too many pieces of broken glass to put back together. It was 12:15pm and I was already tired…tired of thinking